Misfits and Cowards

[KingOfLaughter]

Barely having time to meet your new squad mates, you're hustled into the Castle proper, led by the Kings Guardsmen through twisting corridors, in to the ever deeper parts of the castle. Finally arriving at a set of stairs the Guardsmen march off. A man at the bottom beckons you down, and then walks away.

Though visible it is obvious the bottom of the stairs is lit by much less then the rest of the castle had been. The area is also made of a much black stone, in contrast to the white of the rest of the castle you'd seen.

[Croverus]

Raggore moved near the front, almost large enough to take up the space of two of the men. His massive greatsword rested in its holder on his back. His eyes easily adjusted to the dim light as he looked around, able to see into the shadowy corners, though he wouldn't notice color or minor details where no light shone on an area. He breathed in deeply, hoping for some excitement. He'd been growing bored as of late. Practice holds his interest only so long before he starts to be deemed 'too aggressive' in sparring drills. He almost broke a man's leg the other day with a wooden sword. Broke the training weapon too. That certainly wasn't one of his finest, or proudest moments.

[Archmage1]

Wonderful. First, I am stuck with the third, but then, just to make it even better, I am stuck with this misfit lot. I almost regret not going to the gallows now. It would have been simpler.

As she is thinking on the events that led her here, to this forsaken squad of a forsaken company, Rowen is walking slowly down the stairs, near the back of the group, yet she acts like it is a descent for a queen, moving pridefully, but carefully.
If you look at her, you see an extremely beautiful, if short woman, with bright red hair, and white, high quality clothing. It is more something you would expect someone to wear to a dance or a ball than while actively serving in the army.

"So, anyone have any idea why we are here?"
Her voice seems remarkably confident for the words she spoke.

[Anecronwashere]

"Because we are the best. Of the worst. Welcome to 3rd Company milady. I am Jorech, Jorech Neren. Yes before you ask I am related to Kaled Noren. He is my father.
Still it could be worse."
A bard speaks, looking around.

"Yes, it could be worse. We could all be stuck at home simply hearing about the War. Here, here we can be heroes if we try. And with a bit of luck I guess."

He is standing near the center, his horn set at his waist as we flicks his blonde hair back. The very picture of a noble hero... If you overlook the slightly crooked nose and the just-slightly-off flaws that dispel the image at a second glance

[Archmage1]

"I am Rowen Ningel."
Rowen pauses, and sorrow and anger flash in her eyes before she continues.
"If only I could be stuck at home. Of course, a dragon destroyed it, so I might be dead, but at least it would have been more interesting than boot camp. The only sort of hero I have ever encountered is the dead sort, and I have no intention of emulating that example. I suppose I can at least hope to be mentioned in a song though, if I become a dead hero."

Apparently this fellow thinks we should know who his father is. As if he was better than me!. Besides, he is here, so his father was someone unimportant anyway.

[Anecronwashere]

(Kaled IS a hero. a war hero and famous Sorceror. Not knowing him is extremely unlikely. He is one of the most elite soldiers, a high-leveled character involved in this war from the beginning and well-known even before then.
He just doesn't throw his weight around to get his son into a better Company, believing that a silver spoon won;t help nurture sorcerous power)

"Then you must have met the wrong sort of Heroes. The ones you emulate are the proud, the mighty and the brave. The ones who fight on and on past the point of no-return and coming out victorious. Performing heroic deeds and saving the country from the enemy or the roving monsters that threaten our way of life."
His eyes sparkle as he speaks from the heart, orating charismatically as he espouses the qualities and deeds of heroes, what makes them heroes and what makes heroes so great.

[Archmage1]

"You mean the ones that people made up? No one could manage that in real life. Dreams will not save you from getting killed by some enemy somewhere, and the only thing that makes someone a real hero in my book, is surviving something insane, or having a really good prank. A hero is the fellow that managed to escape from prison, or the guard that manages to kill a legendary assassin. This whole killing dragons with both hands while sleeping thing is just a myth."


Rowen does not really want to be here, and has no real interest in the accomplishments of others. If she has heard the name, she would have ignored it. She is an arrogant prankster.

[Machuchang]

Daegan stood near the back of the group, listening to the conversation that had taken place. The nineteen-year old was of average height, with a wiry, muscular build. His sandy brown hair was short-cropped and messy, making his widow's peak a prominent point along his scalp. His eyes, a bright emerald green, looked as if they could glow in the darkness, were it not for the massive bruise that covered the left one. Dark spots covered arms, and his beak-like nose had obviously been broken in several places. His lips, split and swollen, were curled into a nasty sneer. He looked like a young man who had been in a lot of fights. More specifically, he looked like a young man who had lost a lot of fights.

He gave a crooked grin and chuckled lightly as he listened to the gnome and the war hero's son bicker with one another.

"Yeah, sure. Some people are meant to do great things," He said as he pushed his way through the group. "But that's just it. Some people. Not all people. And I'm afraid we're in the latter category, my friend. Just look at me. You think I'm the sort they want to be a hero? No. They say I don't play well with others and that I'm crap with a blade. They sent me here to die. And let's face it, if you're with me, that doesn't look to good for you, now does it? 'Best of the worst?' Pfeh. They still don't expect a damn thing from us, except to die for their cause."

[Anecronwashere]

"You seem to have a very cynical view on heroes. heroes are the ones that go beyond the pale. The thief taking the jewels and selling them, giving the money to the poor is a hero. The soldier fighting off waves of the enemy to allow his wounded allies time to get to safety is a hero. A hero is the epitome of Human Goodness when allowed to flourish. Well, not Human more...Mortal, yes. Non-divine Goodness is a Hero. But anyone can do it if given the right stimulus. You can be heroic too, and not dead if you aren't an idiot about it."

[Archmage1]

"I must agree with the fellow in the back. We are here to die, not to acquire glory. I am here because they considered it a death sentence. The thief stealing the jewels ans giving them to the poor is an idiot. Now the thief is the poor. The soldier fighting off waves of enemies is dead, and by the time you hear of it, the story will have changed so much that it is unrecognizable. A hero is an idiot who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and managed to lie enough about it that others believed it. Being heroic, and not taking insane risks don't go together."

The gnome pauses for a moment before continuing
"Let me ask you this: Is this story that of a hero?

There was a young man, lets call him Bob, who was raised to loving parents, who joined the military at a young age. He was trained, and in every battle against the enemies of his people, he made many kills, saving his companions countless times. Eventually, he died, and his deeds lived on in songs and legends."


Yes, this is a fairly obvious trap. Attempt to bluff that Bob is actually a good guy[roll0]

[Anecronwashere]

[roll0]

Will Edit in a response by the ^

"That entirely depends on the circumstances. Bob could be a hero for saving his comrades, a villain for being part of an evil kingdom attacking a defenceless smaller empire. Or both at the same time, a hero working for a bad cause, but for good reasons is simply a misguided hero."

(Im fairly sure I failed my own sense-motive check here)

[Mido]

Agrias walked languidly in the middle of the group, her left hand resting on the hilt of her sheathed sword as she observed what her new squadmates had to offer. So far, the burly one would seem rather valuable in close quarters. The argument breaking out just in front of her broke her concentration.

They all seem correct. We can't have any such discord this early, no matter how small.

In a sense you are all truthful. Agrias said edgewise with a calm demeanor.

I believe there are two kinds of heroes. There is the hero you know of, and the hero you know. The former is good in that, we have something to look towards to, a model of what we could be. Then there is the hero we know, those that we see in front of us, fighting in the trenches, with every breath pushing themselves with every ounce of strength, to fight for what they believe. Flawed they may seem to us, that does not diminish what heroism they display in dire straits, no matter if they live or not.

Hero is only a title. Whether we can acquire it in any scale, only history can tell. We can only hope and act for now, on how heroic we can be.

[Archmage1]

"So you do agree that it does not really matter what you do, or who you do it for, so long as you manage to be labeled a hero. For 10 gold, anyone can be a hero. Just bribe the local bard. More realistically, we are screwed, and the only legend we will have is from some guy finding our corpses, and wondering what happened to them. Your choices are what matter, not some label."

[Anecronwashere]

"Good enough for me." the bard grins
"So what can you all do in battle? I'm great at bolstering you all, calling on the Dragon's Flame to increase your weapon's lethality. I'm also pretty good with a longsword."

[Archmage1]

"I can't really do all that much, just some spells to confuse things a bit. I also have a crossbow. We should all probably introduce our selves as well. I have already mentioned who I am, but just in case you missed it, I am Rowen."

At Rowen's statement, your eyes are almost drawn to her crossbow, which does not exactly inspire confidence, as it is not in good condition, being army surplus, brought at a bargain price.

[Mido]

I believe there is value in both. A label, if given of good intentions, may become a banner for the forlorn. The action is of importance in that it defines our character.

I choose to focus on the act and let the tales fall where they may. By Heirroneous eyes, I will do as best I can, as long as I can.

[Machuchang]

Daegan's expression changed at the bard's mention of dragonfire.

"Dragon's Flame, huh? Where would an ability like that come from? Are you part dragon or something?"

[Anecronwashere]

"Dragon-Descended, most of my family up the Neren line are Sorcerors and pretty powerful ones too. Unfortunately my own abilities didnt really come through as much, so I got trained in my mother's art Music. Which naturally is where my Draconic Abilities tried to manifest, watch."

Jorech sings a few lines of a famous war-chant and a ripple of heat passes through the room, alighting on the weapons which spark and roil with magical flame, leaving the weapons untouched but clearly burning
When he stops singing the fire goes out, leaving no trace of it ever happening or damage
"It actually works a pretty long distance and only to those I choose. The fire burns fiercer if I use the dragon-horn my dad had crafted for me."

[Machuchang]

"Huh, no kidding," Daegan nodded his head slowly as he examined the flames. "I got some dragon powers too. That's funny. It's like we're the defective dragon squad or something," He grinned.

[Cloudsmeet]

A harried gnome appears suddenly, bustling down the corridor that the rest of the group arrived from. Barely frowning at the crowd blocking the passageway, he makes to push through, and then realises what the man just said. Defective squad sounds about right for what I'm looking for, according to those dolts back at the camp.

"Say, you wouldn't be the 3rd Company, would you? Because apparently I'm supposed to be joining them today, and err... well. Are you them?"

He nearly tells them that they look like what 3rd Company would look like until he realises it might be construed as an insult.

[Anecronwashere]

"What lineage? I'm from a Red dragon line, though the family itself is extinct now. The last dragon was turned into my horn actually. Well, his horn was carved into mine."

[Machuchang]

Daegan nodded to the new arrival and beckoned for him to the join the group.

"Yup, you've found us. Let me guess, you're our tracker, right?" He winked his battered eye. "Anyways, you've caught us at a good time. No commanders, no guards, no supervision of any sort; it's like we're on the battlefield already." He turned back to Jorech.

"Anyways, I have no damn idea what lineage I've got or whatever. I don't even think I've got dragon's blood. But I found this egg a little while ago. It was about this big-" He moved his hands around an invisible ball, about a foot across. "And... I don't know... It spoke to me or something. Ever since then, I've started getting... powers," He stopped himself.

Why am I saying this stuff? He found himself thinking. We're all gonna die anyway. No point in talking about it.

"Anyways, people said it was a bronze dragon egg. That's the best I can tell you. Sorry about your dragon family, by the way."

[Anecronwashere]

"Oh don't be, they had it coming. The Neren bloodline didn't start with a romantic dinner and from what I've heard that dragon's other kids didn't fare much better under a Detect Evil.
I'd love to take a look at your egg, perhaps get my father to lok at it? He knows more about Dragons than I do after all."

[Machuchang]

Daegan chuckled heartily at Jorech's joke.

"Well then, fair enough. As for my egg, I don't have it anymore. I lost it."

[Cloudsmeet]

The gnome nods appreciatively at the tracker joke.

I'm no tracker, I'm the squad blacksmith, I guess. I got conscripted as a lowly private and they bloody well seemed to forget that I was 'prenticed to one of the greatest gnome artificers of our time, a far more important calling than hitting someone over the he- err... Anyway, you have problems with weapons or armor, you come to me. Oh, and I have a few tricks in battle that I hope I won't ever have the opportunity to show you.

He's full of awkward comments half said, today.

"Oh, and my name's Mayhew. Pleased to meet you?"

The last is said with a raised inflection, hoping that nobody's taken offense at his somewhat accidental comments.

[Anecronwashere]

"Don't worry, I'm sure not all of us are here willingly and I understand that war isn't in everyone's blood like mine. I'll probably be your best user, assuming I can get my instruments transferred over to me. I'm stuck with just the Horn and that's a purely battle instrument."

[Mido]

Quite an eclectic group we have here. Dragon blood is starting to seem like a theme though. Still, seems that there is less abrasion between the group for now.

Her sword suddenly ablaze at the bard's whim made her flinch slightly, of which she had hoped none of the others saw. Aside from the divine magics that Gafgarion displayed, she was much estranged to the ways of wizardry or sorcery.

Content that the argument of earlier has downplayed to simple chit-chat, she kept to herself and she eyed and started to make note of the blackened walls of the corridor. She had not encountered anything of the sort, and it piqued her curiosity.

[Croverus]

The burly half orc remained silent. He did not care for their bickering about heros and suck. And there talk of dragon lineage interested him even less. He placed a large hand on the wall, feeling the material and scratching at it with a fingernail. He hand't even paid the stories they told any attention, but hear one at least ask what everyone in the group could do, and at least felt it was fair to tell them that much.

"I can cleave the average man in two with my sword, and if I am outnumbered, I will go into a frenzy, spinning and striking at the enemies around me, knocking their weapons aside and severing their skulls. I like to collect the ears of some of those I slay. If one of you fall in battle, you can rest assured I will collect your ear as well."

[Archmage1]

"Nice to meet another gnome in this place, Mayhew, I was almost convinced that I was the only one. I am Rowen. I intend to survive whatever mission is assigned to us, so perhaps you could take a look at this crossbow. It is a bit battered. As far as dragons go, the only one I have ever seen was a silver, which destroyed my home"

Rowen passes over her rather battered crossbow. It barely seems to be in operating order.

Well, they seem like they might be a bit more competent than I was expecting, but at least we have a rear guard. It sounds like that orc would be quite happy to die to let me survive.


Yes, there is, predictably enough, more to the dragon destroying her home.
And yes, I used the whole family destroyed in some unnamed disaster backstory

[Machuchang]

Daegan smiled at the half-orc's comment.

"Well it's good to know I'll be remembered, at least," He said dryly.

[Cloudsmeet]

Mayhew shivers a bit at the half-orc's comment about ears. Don't die, he thinks to himself, rubbing his ear with one hand while accepting Rowen's crossbow with the other.

After a brief inspection and a quick oil of the winch from the toolkit he carries with him, he pronounces it fit for battle, if a little battered and bruised. "I'd be more than happy to, uh, teach you how to take care of it if you wanted," he offers, "You see, all you really needed to do was keep this winch oiled, replace the string every now and again - look, you can see that it's nearly worn out there with possibly disastrous consequences if you let it snap, either in or out of combat - one of these can really hurt you know, and if you didn't swing it about so carelessly you might not have bent this bit here so, and-" with a grunt of effort he straightens out an errant piece of metalwork "-here you go, it should last you a little while longer now."

He begins to hand it back to Rowen before suddenly snatching it back and beginning to fiddle with the inner workings of the trigger mechanism. "Got to make sure this is free of dust and grit," he says knowingly, "Would be remiss in my duties as your armourer if I didn't. And look here," he continues as he pulls out a small pebble, "I've got no idea how this might've gotten in here but if you'd tried to fire this 'bow nothing would've happened, and then where would you be!"

Finally, almost grudgingly, he hands the crossbow back to Rowen.

"Oh, and pleased to meet you all. Of course. Heh."

[Archmage1]

As Mayhew is doing all this, Rowen is staring, dumbfounded at him

Woa. Maybe I shouldn't have brought that from that fellow who claimed he found it under the wheels of a wagon... Still, it sounds like he should be able to maintain it for me, although that should not be necessary, after all, it's not like I will be using this.

"So... um... That seems really complicated. I would probably do it wrong anyway, so could you please keep it in a working order?"

After she asks Meyhew to help her out, she smiles at him, hoping he would agree.